“They are up and running. They’re staffed up. They’re trained up.” - Emma Pokon, Pacific Northwest regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, on how ready the Alaska Department of Conservation is to take on hazardous waste regulation.
A sample ballot seen at the headquarters of the Alaska Division of Elections on Thursday, July 9, 2026, shows the language for the campaign finance ballot measure. (James Brooks photo/Alaska Beacon)
By James Brooks
On Aug. 18, Alaskans will be asked if they want to change the way the state’s elections operate, but not in the way that most voters are thinking.
The sole ballot measure before voters in the primary election would reimpose limits on the amount of money that individuals and groups can donate to political candidates in state elections.
The hazardous waste collection site at Anchorage's Solid Waste Services Central Transfer Station is seen on July 29, 2026. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
By Yereth Rosen
Alaska is now in charge of hazardous waste regulation in the state, a task that can be made more challenging by geographic remoteness.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday officially transferred authority for hazardous waste regulation to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. That makes Alaska the 49th state to be granted hazardous waste primacy — the term for primary responsibility for management and enforcement — over the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, or RCRA.
Elections workers double-check the results of Alaska’s Aug. 16, 2022, primary election during a meeting of the state review board on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022, at the Alaska Division of Elections in Juneau. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
By James Brooks
Early, in-person voting begins Monday for Alaska’s Aug. 18 state primary election, and thousands of voters have already cast absentee ballots by mail.
Regardless of when — or how — Alaskans vote, ballots will be counted starting on election day, according to a preliminary schedule provided by the Alaska Division of Elections.
Bristol Bay is seen in 2004 from the community of Naknek. (Photo provided by the Alaska Division of Community and Regional Affairs)
COMMENTARY
By Marc Vance
Five days after graduating from high school in 1980, my identical twin brother, Malcolm, and I boarded a plane for Alaska. We were young, restless and convinced we were heading north to make our fortune.
We had no idea Alaska would shape the rest of our lives.
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Alaska providers say childcare gap is growing | Corinne Smith
News Analysis: Alaska’s energy paradox | Lois Parshley
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